The Australian National University (ANU) is a nationalresearch university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and institutes.[2]

ANU is regarded as one of the world's leading research universities. It is ranked 1st in Australia and the whole of Oceania, 24th in the world by the 2019 QS World University Rankings,[5] and 49th in the world (second in Australia) by the 2019 Times Higher Education.[6] ANU was named the world's 7th (first in Australia) most international university in a 2017 study by Times Higher Education.[7] In the 2017 Times Higher Education Global Employability University Ranking, an annual ranking of university graduates' employability, ANU was ranked 21st in the world (first in Australia).[8] ANU is ranked 100th (first in Australia) in the CWTS Leiden ranking.[9][10] The university is particularly well known for its programmes in the arts and social sciences, and ranks among the best in the world for a number of disciplines including politics and international relations, social policy, and geography.[11]

The first residents' hall, University House, was opened in 1954 for faculty members and postgraduate students.[3]Mount Stromlo Observatory, established by the federal government in 1924, became part of ANU in 1957.[3] The first locations of the ANU Library, the Menzies and Chifley buildings, opened in 1963.[3] The Australian Forestry School, located in Canberra since 1927, was amalgamated by ANU in 1965.[3]

In 1960, CUC was integrated into ANU as the School of General Studies, initially with faculties in arts, economics, law and science.[3] Faculties in Oriental studies and engineering were introduced later.[3] Bruce Hall, the first residential college for undergraduates, opened in 1961.[3]

Modern era

The Canberra School of Music and the Canberra School of Art combined in 1988 to form the Canberra Institute of the Arts, and amalgamated with the university as the ANU Institute of the Arts in 1992.[3][19][20]

ANU established its Medical School in 2002, after obtaining federal government approval in 2000.[21]

In February 2013, financial entrepreneur and ANU graduate Graham Tuckwell made the largest university donation in Australian history by giving $50 million to fund an undergraduate scholarship program at ANU.[24]

ANU is well known for its history of student activism and, in recent years, its fossil fuel divestment campaign, which is one of the longest-running and most successful in the country.[25] The decision of the ANU Council to divest from two fossil fuel companies in 2014 was criticised by ministers in the Abbott government, but defended by Vice Chancellor Ian Young, who noted:

On divestment, it is clear we were in the right and played a truly national and international leadership role. [...] [W]e seem to have played a major role in a movement which now seems unstoppable.[26]

As of 2014[update] ANU still had investments in major fossil fuel companies.[27]

A survey conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2017 found that the ANU had the second highest incidence of sexual assault and sexual harassment.[28][29] 3.5 per cent of respondents from the ANU reported being sexually assaulted in 2016. Vice Chancellor Brian Schmidt apologised to victims of sexual assault and harassment.[30]

In recent years the ANU has come under pressure with funding and staff cuts in the School of Music in 2011-15[31] and in the School of Culture, History and Language in 2016.[32][33][34] However, there is a range of global (governmental) endowments available for Arts and Social Sciences, designated only for ANU.[35] Some courses are now delivered online.[36]

Campus

Acton, Canberra

The main campus of ANU extends across the Canberra suburb of Acton, which consists of 358 acres (1.45 km2) of mostly parkland with university buildings landscaped within.[37] ANU is roughly bisected by Sullivans Creek, part of the Murray–Darling basin, and is bordered by the native bushland of Black Mountain, Lake Burley Griffin, the suburb of Turner and the Canberra central business district. Many university sites are of historical significance dating from the establishment of the national capital, with over 40 buildings recognised by the Commonwealth Heritage List and several others on local lists.[38]

With over 10,000 trees on its campus,[39] ANU won an International Sustainable Campus Network Award in 2009[40] and was ranked the 2nd greenest university campus in Australia in 2011.[41]

Library

The library of ANU originated in 1948 with the appointment of the first librarian, Arthur McDonald.[3] The library holds over 2.5 million physical volumes[43] distributed across six branches—the Chifley, Menzies, Hancock, Art & Music, and Law Libraries and the external Print Repository.[44] Chifley library is accessible for ANU staff and students 24 hours a day.[45]

Residential halls and colleges

Eight residential facilities are affiliated with ANU—Bruce Hall, Ursula Hall, Burgmann College, John XXIII College, Toad Hall, Burton & Garran Hall, Graduate House and Fenner Hall.[46] All are located on campus except Fenner Hall, which is located in the nearby suburb of Braddon. Students also reside in the privately run units adjoining the campus—Davey Lodge, Kinloch Lodge, Warrumbul Lodge and Lena Karmel Lodge. In 2010, the non-residential Griffin Hall was established for students living off-campus. Another off-campus student accommodation was launched by UniGardens Pty, University Gardens[47] located in Belconnen.

Academic structure

Colleges

ANU was reorganised in 2006 to create seven Colleges, each College leads both teaching and research.[3]

Arts and Social Sciences

ANU School of Music, Llewellyn Hall

The ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences is divided into the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) and the Research School of Humanities and the Arts (RSHA). Within RSSS there are schools dedicated to history, philosophy, sociology, political science and international relations, Middle Eastern studies and Latin American studies.[48] RSHA contains schools focusing on anthropology, archaeology, classics, art history, English literature, drama, film studies, gender studies, linguistics, European languages as well as an art and music school.[49] In 2017, ANU ranked 6th in the world for politics, 8th in the world for Social Policy and Administration and 11th in the world for development studies.[50]

Asia and the Pacific

The ANU College of Asia and the Pacific is a specialist centre of Asian and Pacific studies and languages, among the largest collections of experts in these fields of any university in the English-speaking world.[51] The College is home to three academic schools: the Crawford School of Public Policy, a research intensive public policy school; the School of Culture History and Language, the nation's centre dedicated to investigating and learning with and about the people, languages, and lands of Asia and the Pacific; and Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australia's foremost collection of expertise in the politics and international affairs of Asia and the Pacific.[52] The Strategic and Defence Studies Centre is also a component of the College. Peter Drysdale laid the intellectual foundation of APEC. The college also houses the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW), the Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) and the CSCAP Australia.[53] Year in Asia program students with ANU GPA 5.0 or above will be able to travel to one Asian country to study for one year to specialize in one Asian language.[54]
The College has affiliation with Indiana University's Pan Asia Institute.[55]

Business and Economics

Paraboloidal dish for concentrated solar power at ANU

The ANU College of Business and Economics comprises four Research Schools, which carries research and teaching in economics, finance, accounting, actuarial studies, statistics, marketing and management.[56] The college is professionally accredited with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, CPA Australia, the Australian Computer Society, the Actuaries Institute Australia, the Institute of Public Accountants, the Association of International Accountants, Chartered Financial Analyst Institute[57] and attains membership of World Wide Web Consortium.[58]

Engineering and Computer Science

The ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science is divided into two Research Schools, which study a range of engineering and computer science topics respectively. ANU is home to the National Computational Infrastructure National Facility and was a co-founder of NICTA, the chief information and communications technology research centre in Australia. Research groups in ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science include Algorithms and Data, Applied Signal Processing, Artificial Intelligence, Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, Computer Systems, Computer Vision and Robotics, Data-Intensive Computing, Information and Human Centred Computing, Logic & Computation, Materials and Manufacturing, Semiconductor and Solar Cells, Software Intensive Systems Engineering, Solar Thermal Group, Systems and Control.[59] Disciplinary areas include theories, operations and cutting-edge research that will enhance user experience by integrating ever-evolving information technology methods in engineering applications,[60][61] with the emphasis on energy source.[62]

ANU was ranked 24th in the world (first in Australia) by the 2019 QS World University Rankings,[82] and 49th in the world (second in Australia) by the 2019 Times Higher Education.[83] ANU was named the world's seventh (first in Australia) most international university in a 2017 study by Times Higher Education.[7] In the 2015 Times Higher Education Global Employability University Ranking, an annual ranking of university graduates' employability, ANU was ranked 32nd in the world (first in Australia).[84] ANU was ranked 100th in the world (first in Australia) in the CWTS Leiden ranking.

In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017, ANU was ranked sixth in the world for politics, eighth in the world for social policy and administration, tenth in the world for arts and humanities, thirteenth in the world for archaeology and fourteenth in the world for history.[85]

Organizations

The Centre for Moral, Social and Political Theory (CMSPT) is an organization at Australian National University whose purpose is to "become a world-leading forum for exposition and analysis of the evolution, structure, and implications of our moral, social and political life."[88][89][90][91] Its president is Nicholas Southwood and key people include Seth Lazar, Geoff Brennan, Bob Goodin, Frank Jackson, Philip Pettit and Michael Smith.

Woroni

Woroni is the student newspaper of the Australian National University. Woroni is published fortnightly in full colour tabloid format, and features broad coverage of university and local news, opinion, features, arts and culture, sports, and leisure.

Affiliations

ANU participates in the US Financial Direct Loan program.[92] The RG Menzies Scholarship to Harvard University is awarded annually to at least one talented Australian who has gained admission to a Harvard graduate school.[93] ANU and University of Melbourne are the only two Australian partner universities of Yale University's Fox Fellowship program.[94]